The first time I read a floppy, no problems.
If I then put another floppy in the drive and explore or double click on the drive I get the same files listed as before.
In fact I can remove the floppy and it will still rear the directory, it will also read small text files without the floppy in the drive.
It's as if the computer holds the info in a buffer and refuses to refresh. I have to reboot to read a second floppy.
Mobo is a KT7a with latest bios.

When you switch floppies have you tried hitting f5 whne displaying the contents?

Have just tried F5. The floppy light come on the floppy makes a small click but still reads last directory.
I have tried a new drive - same.

You might want to try downloading the free version of PowerDesk and see if the problem happens with it. This is an alternative to Windows Explorer and generally works better than Explorer. If the floppy refreshes in PowerDesk, it means the problem is with Explorer.

http://www.v-com.com/product/pd_ind.html

And by the way:

Welcome to http://www.pcguide.com/ubb/pcgubb.gif

I've just downloaded PowerDesk, Nice little file manager I think I will use it instead of Explorer.
Unfortunatly it did not cure my problem, still refuses to read the second or third disk.
Is there a setting for buffering floppy in XP otherwise I will have to try and replace the ribbon cable.

Changed floppy ribbon cable. Still not refreshing.
Would dropping a 5 ton weight onto the computer help?

Not really, but you would be able to fit the whole computer into a floppy drive....:D

If a new cable didn't do the trick then the problem is most likely with the controller, probably a damaged pin 34 (could be a poor solder job).

You can get a PCI floppy controller and disable the onboard one.

If you have one available you could also try another floppy drive and see if you still have the problem. A new floppy drive would probably cost less than the controller card, but wouldn't help if the controller is the problem, so I would check before buying if you can.

Oh and yes, I have been using PowerDesk for years now because it is SO much better than Explorer.:)

Thanks, I have fitted a new floppy drive but it was the same and the old floppy worked O.K. on my other PC.
I will check the pins on the Mobo but I don't think their damaged.
Oh well! I don't use the drive much and I have got another PC if needed and will probably upgrade my Mobo,CPU & Mem soon that will probably cure it.
Thanks again.

I'm guessing that there won't be any visible damage to the pins but there will be what is called a "cold solder" joint...basically that means the solder was not allowed to cool properly and an intermitant contact joint was formed. All of this will either be hidden by the connector or on the bottom side of the motherboard.

I've seen this myself in win 98, and it wasn't due to a hardware error. It's win 98 itself that is at fault, but where is anyone's guess.
When you click on the FDD (with a disk in), and want to insert a different floppy, click on your C drive before removing the first floppy, then eject the first floppy, insert the second one, and then click on the floppy drive - see if that helps. It certainly solved the problem sometimes when I have seen it before.

Got to be that damn VIA chipset. I've had so much trouble with a KT7A-raid mobo.

mjc - Thanks but the Mobo is O.K. because I have my PC dual-booting in Win98 SE and XP Pro. I remembered I hadn't tried it in Win98 which I very rarelly use nowadays 'cause XP works fine.
deddard - The floppy drive refreshes o.k. under Win 98 but not with XP Pro.

I think Ed probably correct that it's the KT7a not being compatable with XP.

I have installed the latest 4in1 drivers for this board.

One interesting problem that I had with the KT7a was when I had an Asus GeForce 3 card. XP Setup would hang if I tried to install it with this Graphig card, I had to remove it and fit a cheap card, install Windows XP, then refit the GeForce. Since Iv'e fitted a GeForce 4 4200 TI 128 I've had no problems (apart from this floppy thing)

Thanks Again

jt..

I have a machine with a Leadtek GF3 and a kt133a-raid mobo running XP as well. It's a castoff from un client upgrade that I've been trying to set up for my 70-yr-old mom's internet computer.

I've been building em for 15 years and this has been far and away the most incompatible combination of components I've ever worked on. I've gotten to the point now where it's stable but I've had to turn off all the performance options in bios, remove a Promise raid card, load, unload, reload chipset drivers and bios versions for both the mobo and hpt controller, Via PCI latency patches, ad nauseum. Oh yeah one XP reinstall...so far.

Looks like I've finally quashed the last instability, a persistent yet maddeningly intermittent freeze-up...no bluescreen, no error msg. just a dead stop. Hasn't happened since I tried a hacked bios because Abit stopped updating the Hotpoint 370 bios. I also had to let XP use it's own signed hpt driver. Whew.

I bet Abit was *glad* to finally put an end to *this* POS. Never again will I own a Via built anything nor ever recommend them.